Union Protests Construction Company Renovating Village Hall

Members of a bricklayers union set up a tall, inflatable rat outside Winnetka Village Hall on Wednesday, claiming the workers renovating the outside of the building are being paid unfair wages.

The rat stood in front of Village Hall Wednesday morning and was gone around 2 p.m. Lou Padilla and Jack Probola, members of Bricklayers Local 21, held signs and spoke to a few passers-by throughout the morning. They say the contractor doing the masonry work on Village Hall is paying substandard wages to its employees -- which violates state law.

"We just want a level playing field," Padilla said. "This is public money and public funding."

Steve Saunders, Winnetka's director of public works, says the village has several checks in place to ensure contractors pay employees fairly. The standard for fair wages for employees working on taxpayer-funded projects is called the prevailing wage, which is determined by a public body or the Illinois Department of Labor. For more information on prevailing wages, click here. The base wage for brick masonry workers in Cook County is $39.03.

The village passes a prevailing wage resolution every year, which requires all contractors doing work in the village to pay employees at least the minimum pay rate set by the Illinois Department of Labor. That language is also written into bids and contracts, Saunders said. Village officials then check payroll statements to make sure employees are being paid the required amount.

"The way we close the loop is we require the contractor to provide certified payroll statements," Saunders said. "If they don't provide those statements, they don't get paid."

Winnetka village trustees awarded a contract worth $347,800 to GC Masonry for masonry restoration in August. The interior of Village Hall will also be renovated, but the whole project was split into two separate bids in order to attract a specialized contractor. Re-bidding the renovation of the building's exterior also resulted in a savings of about

Saunders said he received certified payroll from GC Masonry in January. He said he expects to receive the next one soon because work on Village Hall resumed last month.

Padilla and Probola said the workers are being paid substandard wages. A few people were visible on the roof of Village Hall, which is covered in scaffolding and plastic.

"If they're doing everything properly, then why aren't they here?" Probola said.

GC Masonry did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Check Winnetka-Glencoe Patch for more updates on this story.